Judgment

GOSWAMI, J.:- This writ application under Article 32 of the Constitution raises the question of the constitutional validity of the Jammu and Kashmir Agrarian Reforms Act, 1972 (Act No. XXVI of 1972), briefly called the Act, and the rules framed thereunder. The petitioners are landowners in the State of Jammu and Kashmir and their grievance is that by the impugned Act they along with a large number of similar land-owners have been rendered landless. They further allege that the amount intended to be paid as compensation is illusory and the Act is, therefore, of a confiscatory nature. They also allege that conclusion of an orchard from the definition of land under Section 2 (4) of the Act is motivated and designed in the interests of highly placed influential persons in the State who own such orchards. By taking an additional ground, they also aver that the Act is not saved by the provisions of Article 31A of the Constitution as applicable to the State of Jammu and Kashmir since it is not a piece of legislation bearing on agrarian reform.

2. The respondent has denied the above avertnents and other allegations in the petition by means of an affidavit affirmed by the Special